


Fairground

by StrategicDilemma



Series: Bederia Week 2020 [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Amusement Parks, Bederia Week 2020, Country Fair, DressedinPinkShipping, F/M, Ferris Wheels, Fluff, bederia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 10:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22848727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrategicDilemma/pseuds/StrategicDilemma
Summary: Gloria invites Bede to the South Galarian Fair.Bederia Week Day 1: Fair / Amusement Park
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Bederia Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642540
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	Fairground

**Author's Note:**

> Time for a week filled with stories that I still haven't even written, hell yeah
> 
> I'm a country girl, so let me have some nostalgic moments here

When Gloria had told him about the South Galarian Fair, Bede had imagined a pretty mediocre collection of farmers and small-town hicks running around with their Wooloo. What Bede found, however, was nearly the whole region’s population bustling around with vendors, food stands, and amusement park rides, their bright, attention-grabbing lights turning on as the sun was setting. Small children ran past Bede, shoving their fried food in their mouths as they hurried to get in line for one of the zero-gravity spin rides.

Now that he thought about it, he recalled Hop and Gloria raving about getting on some sort of pendulum ride so many times that Hop had become violently ill in the garden in front of Gloria’s cottage.

Bede groaned.

Stupid Hop had to be out of town for a conference; Bede wouldn’t be in this mess if Hop had just planned his schedule better.

“Bede!” Gloria’s voice rang out over the loud mumblings of the crowd. Bede turned to see Gloria pushing through the crowd to get to him. Her bangs were pulled back with a collage of colorful barrettes, and she wore a blue, fluffy sweater and denim jeans. It was much more casual that Bede had seen her dress in recent memory, but it made him feel a bit more comfortable in his own dressed-down look of casual trousers and a black turtleneck.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” she apologized once reached Bede’s side. She looked around the fairgrounds, beaming at the spectacle, and Bede realized that this was probably something she looked forward to every year. She turned back to Bede. “Should we get started?”

“Alright,” Bede replied, trying to stifle any disdain. He _really_ didn’t want to spend his evenings on a bunch of rides, but he was also aware of his standing in this situation: Gloria had invited him to this event, which she obviously cared about, and he was essentially a guest. “I take it we should start with a swing ride, or the Tilt-a-Whirl?”

“Hm?” Gloria looked at him, confused. “I didn’t think you were into those.”

“Well, I simply figured we would do whatever you’d like,” Bede explained. “This is _your_ event, after all.”

“Ah, okay!” she nodded, understanding. “In that case, I thought we could do something else. Not to disappoint you or anything,” she nudged him teasingly, giggling to herself.

Bede blinked, surprised, but he nevertheless shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”

Gloria led him away from the loud crowds surrounding the amusement park rides, the loud uproar fading as they got further away. She brought him to a quieter area of the fairgrounds, filled with makeshift stables and fenced-off fields where Bede could see Pokemon roaming around. Most of the people around were farmers, and a few of them even greeted Gloria as they walked by, but Bede also saw his fair share of families with their young children. This was more along the lines of what Bede had assumed the fair would be like, though he had to admit that he felt a bit guilty in assuming it would be dirty and filled with a bunch of hillbillies. This was much more put together than he expected.

Gloria led him over to one of the barns attached to a fenced-off field. The door was left open, inviting people to walk through. “After you,” Gloria gestured to the door, stepping aside for him to pass. Bede raised an eyebrow at her, but he walked inside.

He was immediately greeted by a _giant_ Mudsdale, who in response turned to look at the newcomer. The Pokemon was in the first stall by the doorway, and it slowly walked over to Bede, towering over him as it sniffed at its hair curiously. Two small Mudbray were in the same stall, and they too wobbled over to see what Mudsdale was interested in.

Bede was intimidated by the sheer massiveness of the Draft Horse Pokemon, but as it carefully smelled his hair and his shirt, he had the intuition that it wouldn’t hurt him. Tentatively, Bede lifted his hand and pet the side of Mudsdale’s head. He expected the Pokemon to flinch away, but it nuzzled its cheek into his hand as encouragement, letting Bede stroke the side of its giant head. One of the Mudbray stuck its head through the fence and pressed its nose against Bede’s leg, trying to bite at the fabric of his pants.

“No, no,” Gloria’s voice softly scolded the Mudbray, her hand appearing to push it away from Bede and. “Don’t do that, his clothes are probably expensive.” Once Mudbray’s head was back inside the stall, she reached her arms over the fence to rub both of the Mudbray’s heads. A small information card was hanging on the board separating Mudsdale’s stall from the next, and Gloria read it while she let the Mudbray’s smell her hands.

“Oh, they’re from Alola!” she said, and Bede shot her a shocked look.

“ _Alola?”_ he balked. “What on earth are they doing here?”

“Oh, people from all over bring their Pokemon here for the fair,” Gloria explained. “I think there might be some sort of competition, or maybe it’s just for international farmers to meet each other. I’m not really sure. Either way, we get to see a bunch of international Pokemon!”

Bede looked up at Mudsdale, surprised that such a large Pokemon had come from such a small group of islands. Its heavy-lidded eyes were gentle and calm, and it pressed its nose against Bede’s forehead as he stroked its neck.

“That one’s named Justice,” Gloria read from the card, referring to Mudsdale. “She pulls plows in the berry fields and helps level the land. And these,” Gloria paused to poke the noses of the Mudbray, “are her babies, Nutmeg and Almond!”

Bede had never spent time around farms, so he was taken aback at the idea of Justice simply helping out around Alolan farms and not being a battle Pokemon. He could understand it, as he looked at the Pokemon’s giant chest and heavy feet. “Will the Mudbray also be worker Pokemon?” he asked.

“Who knows?” Gloria looked at Bede and shrugged, but her eyes were bright. “They’ll probably stay with their mum for a while until they evolve, so at least they’ll all be together until then.” She smiled sweetly, and Bede had the sudden thought that coming to the fair hadn’t been a bad idea.

\----

The rest of their evening continued with Bede and Gloria visiting all the farm Pokemon. Gloria had been enthralled by a herd of Mareep, and their owner even gave them each a small bag of snack pellets to feed them. The Mareep swarmed them eagerly, small sparks of static puffing out of their wool as they rubbed up against their legs. Bede had also got the chance to see his first Milktalk; one of the more famous Milktank farms from Johto were in town to sell milk, and Bede hadn’t realized how _pink_ and _cute_ the bovine Pokemon were. They were lazing around in one of the fields, but one had waved to the two trainers and mooed as a greeting.

Gloria at one point managed to convince Bede to fair food, which (to him) seemed to be mostly normal food that had just been deep-fried. Bede had passed on trying any of the deep-fried pickles or the large balls of melting cheese that another customer had bought, but curiosity got the best of him when Gloria offered him a “deep-fried chocolate chip cookie.” The concept alone repulsed him, but after taking one bite, Bede immediately bought three more, Gloria snickering triumphantly the whole time.

They walked around as they ate, Gloria telling a story about how she and Hop had come to see the Pokemon one year when they were young. Hop had been a bit too energetic with a very annoyed Tepig and had ended up with one of his pantlegs burnt to a crisp. Gloria also had the experience of a rather dumb Dubwool mistaking Gloria’s bangs for grass and chomping right into her forehead.

“That’s why I pin them back now,” she explained, pointing to her barrettes with a wink.

Eventually, they came to sit on a small park bench overlooking most of the fair. Bede could hear the excited screams of the children as he watched the amusement park rides spin violently in the distance.

“I thought you were more of a ride person at this sort of event,” he said, turning to Gloria.

“Me?” Gloria pointed to herself. “I mean, sure, I like them, but that’s more of Hop’s deal. If you wanted to go crazy on the rides, _he’s_ the one you want.”

“I’ll pass,” Bede grimaced. “I can barely handle Hop in his normal state, let alone when he’s running on adrenaline and fried food.”

Gloria laughed. “I’m just imagining him dragging you onto these rides. I bet it’s like trying to give a Meowth a bath!”

“I assure you it wouldn’t be _that_ bad,” Bede grumbled, the sound of Gloria’s laughter causing his cheeks to feel warm. She nudged him slightly, a mischievous grin on her face.

“Prove it, then.”

Bede stared at her. “What?”

“Let’s go on a ride! It’ll just be one, don’t worry, but I get to pick.”

Bede looked at her a moment, silently, and then he huffed, straightening out his back. “Fine by me. I can survive one ride, no issue.”

\----

“You know,” Bede said, giving Gloria a perturbed look, “I had assumed you’d pick a slightly more _eventful_ ride.”

Gloria shrugged, a playful look on her face. “Yeah, well, I wanted this one.” She held the door to the passenger car, motioning with her hand. “Now get in.”

Bede shook his head, climbing inside the car. Initially, he had thought that Gloria was pulling a prank on him when she brought him over to the Ferris wheel. There had essentially been no line, most of the other fair patrons finding interest in the other attractions, so they had essentially been able to walk right up to the next passenger car. It wasn’t until this moment that he realized that, yes, Gloria really _did_ pick the this as her ride of choice.

“Besides,” Gloria said, climbing in after him, “we both just had fried food; probably not a good idea for any high-speed antics.” To Bede’s surprise, she sat down directly next to him instead of across. “Sorry to disappoint you once again.”

Bede snickered. “If this is what you call ‘disappointment,’ I’m fascinated to know what you consider to be ‘fulfillment.’”

The wheel slowly began to turn, letting in a few more passengers along the way, but Bede and Gloria managed to see a full rotation before they were significantly stopped near the top. Bede could see the quiet meadows in the distance, so much darker than the highlighted fairgrounds. He looked at the window, barely noticing Gloria yawn beside him until he left a weight on side.

Turning his head, he saw Gloria leaning against him, her head resting snugly on Bede’s shoulder and her eyes softly closed.

Bede’s whole face burned and a chill ran down his spine, tiny bumps forming on his skin as the hairs stood on end.

“What ar—?”

“Thanks for coming out with me tonight,” Gloria murmured sleepily. “I had a really fun time, seeing all the farm Pokemon with you.”

Bede stared at her, suddenly not sure how he should sit and wondering if he should move or just remain absolutely still. He moved slightly to rest his back against the side of the cart, and Gloria adjusted accordingly. She murmured something again, but Bede couldn’t make out what she said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Nnnn… I asked if you had fun, Bede,” she repeated, yawning heavily again before snuggling further into his side.

Bede turned his face towards the window, attempting to hide the deep crimson on his cheeks even though Gloria couldn’t see it.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: https://strategicdilemma.tumblr.com/  
> Bederia server: https://discord.gg/c4p2KVS  
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/stratsdilemma


End file.
